


Imprinttale

by lorphis



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: And Friendship, Deaths, Gen, Illustrated, Illustrations, OC is a monster, So many deaths, Undertale AU, Undertale Genocide Route, Undertale Pacifist Route, also hate, cuz chara is bloodthirsty, no beta we die like men, no romance here, oc isn't a self-insert, only brotherly love
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-18
Updated: 2019-10-09
Packaged: 2020-10-20 20:47:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,030
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20681684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lorphis/pseuds/lorphis
Summary: Imprint was the youngest brother of Sans and Papyrus. He was a simple monster. He liked to eat chocolates, joked around with Sans, and helped Papyrus with his puzzles. He didn't even mind staying in the Underground forever and never saw the surface. He was content. But one day, a human came out of the ruins, and to put it mildly shit hits the fan.(This work will be mainly written but sometimes I’ll add some illustrations and even make some parts into short comics!)





	1. Cover

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because I'm an impatient piece of shit I decided to post this fic early even tho the first chapter isn't even done. So.... here's the cover first yeah.

Character Art:

[Imprint](http://fav.me/ddg5uyq)

[Sans & Papyrus](http://fav.me/ddg8782)

[Chara & Frisk](http://fav.me/ddg8o6h)


	2. Chapter One

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Been a while since I last wrote anything, so my writing skill is a bit dusty. Also, I tried to catch most of the grammatical errors but there are probably still some that slip past. So, I apologize in advance.

Sans looked down upon the thing-no the monster in his grasp. A skeleton monster. Baby bones. He-Sans assumed-looked a lot like Sans, the only difference was the strange holes on the baby’s hand. A pulse of pain pierced Sans’s skull as he gazed at them. He turned his sight away. Not the time. How did he get a hold of a baby, anyway? He stumbled when the core shook. It felt as if it was going to split the underground apart.

Damn.

Why was he here?

Another pulse of pain.

He shook his head and grasped the baby tighter. He ran out of the core building as fast as his short bones could. The space around the area was crackling and quivering. Sharp energy from the core pulsed, spreading out. It would be more than unwise to try to use a shortcut. This was one of the rare times where he wished he exercised more. Heh. Papyrus would be delighted. His eyes flicked down on the baby who’s fast asleep despite the chaos around them. Well, Paps would no doubt be overjoyed to know that he was a big brother now. With that in mind, Sans escaped the building, leaving the ruined laboratory behind.

* * *

When Sans finally got home, their artificial sun had dimmed, leaving the underground dark. It had taken him hours to stabilize the core. He still hadn’t managed to figure out what went wrong but the other kicked him out of the laboratory, telling him to take care of his baby brother. He had taken the baby from Alphys’s arms, still sleeping. Honestly, he felt rather salty that the baby could take an uninterrupted nap while Sans had been pulling his non-existent hair. With great effort, he rose his hands to knock on the door but it slammed open on its own.

Papyrus stood in front of him, arms crossed. Despite being 4 years younger than him Papyrus already started to catch up with Sans in terms of height. He dutifully pushed the issue into the trash can on the back of his skull.

“YOU ARE LATE!” Papyrus glowered. “THE DINNER HAS GOTTEN COLD!!”

“uh… sorry, paps,” Sans said, “you see… there’s this-” He gave up trying to explain and just showed the baby to Papyrus.

All irritation on Papyrus’s face was wiped away, replaced by unbridled joy. “WOWIE! IS THAT?!”

“uh-huh,” Sans nodded, amused at Papyrus clear adoration.

“AM I A BIG BROTHER, NOW?” Papyrus’s sockets grew big, and Sans swore he saw stars in them.

“guess so”

“YAAAY!“ Papyrus exclaimed “COME ON! GET INSIDE! THE COLD CAN’T BE GOOD FOR THE BABY!” He pushed Sans into the house and closed the door.

Sans sight surprisingly didn’t land upon the enticing sofa and instead, his attention was caught by the heaps of foods on the table. Papyrus usually ate a lot but this was too much even for him. “what’s with the food paps? i didn’t know you are that hungry”

“HMM?” Papyrus titled his head. “I… DON’T KNOW? I DON’T REMEMBER HOW THAT GOT THERE.”

“what? the food just appear on its own?”

“YES!”

Sans chuckled. This day had been weird and tiring, there’s no point on having a fuss over extra food on the table.

* * *

It didn’t take long for Imprint to be a part of their family. Papyrus was having a blast being an older brother, and he had been trying to act more mature than his age, insisting that he had to be a good role model. Unfortunately, this also meant that he had been extra strict with Sans’s laziness.

“come on bro, someone has to be the cool brother who does the fun stuff if you wanna be the strict one”

“NO SANS! HE DOESN’T NEED YOUR BAD HABITS! NOW PICK UP YOUR SOCKS! YOUR ROOM LOOKS LIKE A DUMPSTER!”

“ouch that burns bro, i have to tell you that my room is-”

A delighted laugh interrupted their brotherly banter. Sans and Papyrus turned their skull toward Imprint who was currently being “attacked” by the white dog.

“AAAAAH! HANDS OFF MY LITTLE BROTHER YOU ANNOYING DOG!!” Papyrus shooed the dog with flailing hands. The dog bounded away with grace and leaped outside through the open window. Imprint whined and tried to follow it. “OH NO YOU DON’T! YOU’RE GOING TO PLAY WITH YOUR BIG BROTHER NOW!” Papyrus scooped up Imprint and turned to Sans. “AS FOR YOU SANS YOU BETTER PICK UP YOUR SOCKS BEFORE WE’RE DONE PLAYING! OR ELSE…” Papyrus tried to give him a threatening look as he closed his door but it was ruined when he gave his signature laugh. “NYEH HEH HEH!”

“heh” Sans chuckled, threw himself into the sofa and tried to relax. Despite his brother claiming him as a bag of lazy bones, it was rare for Sans to be truly at ease. There were always new problems and emergencies that he had to deal with. It had gotten so bad that he had started to consider resigning from being the head of the royal scientist, just so that he could shove those pesky problems to another monster. He just wanted to nap every day damn it. Not to mention Papyrus was always sad whenever Sans had to work late. Sans sighed, closed his sockets, and attempted to enjoy this rare moment of peace… he opened them again when a certain problem kept prodding him. He groaned and called Alphys.

“H-helo??” Alphys meekly responded.

“yo alph. how’s it going there?”

“Oh Sans! Ah yes, the core is still stable, thanks to you. We haven’t managed to uncover the cause of the incident… honestly, I don’t think we’re going to find anything. I’ve been looking at the data and camera recordings and there’s nothing strange that I can find.”

Sans hummed.

“S-so how’s your new brother?” she asked.

“paps has been thoroughly enjoying his new status as an older brother, and well imprint has been behaving well”

“T-that’s good to hear.”

“yeah but let me be honest with you, i still can’t figure out how the hell i got him. it’s as if he appeared out of nowhere, i don’t remember how i got there either. whatever happened there must be connected as to why i can’t remember a damn thing”

“Would you like me to check the camera recordings?”

“that would be great”

“It’s no t-trouble.”

* * *

It was hours before Papyrus and Imprint were done playing. As expected Sans never did pick up his socks. Instead, they multiplied.

“SAAAANNSSSS!!!”

Sans tried to contain his laughter at Papyrus enraged expression.

“HOW. MANY. TIMES. DO. I. HAVE. TO. TELL. YOU?!” Papyrus stomped his foot with each sentence he said. “PICK. UP. YOUR. SOCKS!!”

Sans couldn’t help it anymore. He threw his skull back and chortled. Papyrus shrieked and started hitting him in frustration. Imprint laughed and clapped at his brothers’ tomfoolery. In the end, Papyrus announced that he had given up over his brother’s fate as a slob and proceeded to went outside to play with Imprint again. Sans chuckled.

Life was great.

Once again Sans thought about his decision on staying as the royal scientist. There wasn’t much reason. If they needed money Sans could think of several other jobs he could take and those would have much less stress than what he had now. He could also spend more time with Papyrus. Alphys could take the spot after he was gone. She was a great scientist once she went past her self-doubt.

His phone rang.

“sup?” Sans greeted.

“Ah-um… Sans,” Alphys responded.

“oh alph, great timing. i was just thinking about resigning, mind taking my spot?”

“W-wait! What brought this on?! I thought you love being a scientist.”

“of course i do duh. i just don’t like being a royal scientist. i can still do sciency stuff without that job. i’ve never been good with stress y’know. i’ll speak about it with asgore tomorrow.”

“… If you’re sure.”

“i’m pretty sure, by the way, why did you call me?”

“Ah! ... uh ... I forgot why….”

Sans snickered. “alph maybe this is a sign that you should reduce the time you spend watching those anime, it seems that they greatly reduce your short-term memory”

Alphys gasped. “Never!”

* * *

It took a while before Sans got a new job. It wasn’t because he couldn’t find one, no, he was just too lazy to take a new job so soon. He wanted to spend his first few weeks after resigning stress-free. They had savings so there was no need for him to rush. Papyrus was ecstatic to know that he would stop coming home so late and celebrated it by trying to make the dinner that night. It ended… well, let’s just say they need a new pot and there were new marks on their kitchen walls. They ate burgs from Grillby that night.

* * *

Sans had been working as a sentry for several years now. He loved it. Human falling into the underground was sporadic and even if one appeared he would just call Undyne to deal with them, easy. Though there had never been brought kids to work day, Sans decided that Imprint and Papyrus could keep him company on the sentry station in Snowdin that day. As usual, they were busy making snow sculptures of themselves, while Sans dozed against his mound of snow. When heavy footsteps approached them, Sans didn’t need to open his eyes to know who it was.

“yo undyne,” he greeted.

Undyne gave a frustrated sigh but didn’t reprimand him. It seemed that his lesson finally stuck. “Anything to report?”

“nada, the forest is silent as death. doubt that any human will fall here anytime soon.” She sighed once again, weary and heavy. Sans looked up at his “boss”. He could see the burden weighing on her. “hey, take it easy, we can handle being underground for a bit longer.”

“It has been too long Sans.”

“i know but it’s not as if there was anything else we could do.” Not true, Asgore could’ve absorbed one of the soul and went to the surface to gather the last soul. But he didn’t. And Sans was content enough being in the underground to raise a protest. He didn’t see much point in escaping the underground. They couldn’t see the sky, sure, but at least they weren’t in the immediate presence of humans, who as far as he knew, really didn’t like monsters. They were the ones who put them here, who knew what would happen once the monsters managed to escape. They might get chased into the underground again. No, Sans wasn’t looking forward to the headache that was integrating into human society thank you. However, it was clear that Undyne disagreed with him. Her mouth pulled tight into a thin line. He was about to give her another placation when Papyrus butted in between.

“WOWIE! ARE YOU THE HEAD OF THE ROYAL GUARDS?”

Undyne blinked in confusion, unable to answer under Papyrus’s brightness. She turned to him. “Your brother?”

“yup, this is paps, the one over there is imprint.”

“IT’S AN HONOR TO MEET YOU!!” Papyrus beamed. “I WANT TO MEET YOU FOR SO LONG! YOU’RE MY HERO!... WELL BESIDES SANS OF COURSE. BUT STILL! WHEN I GROW UP I WANT TO JOIN THE ROYAL GUARDS!”

“Uh… of course, I’m… looking forward to it.”

Papyrus looked as if he was about to cry from joy. “SANS DID YOU HEAR THAT?! UNDYNE CAN’T WAIT FOR ME TO JOIN!!”

“of course she can’t wait ,bro. you’re the best.”

“NYEH HEH HEH!”

“Paps!” Imprint called, his arms were petulantly crossed. It was clear that Imprint didn’t appreciate being ignored.

“OH! I’M SORRY LITTLE BROTHER. YOU HAVE TO EXCUSE ME IT SEEMS THAT I’VE NEGLECTED HIM FOR TOO LONG.” Papyrus gave Undyne one last blinding smile before he went to Imprint who immediately pulled him toward their snow sculpture.

Undyne shot Sans a disbelieving look. “That’s really your brother?”

“yup.”

* * *

It was a year after that when Sans met the lady behind the door. He always knew about the door itself but he saw no reason to approach it. These days he used that door as a place to practice his knock-knock jokes whenever he got too bored. Today, however, he was accompanied by Imprint. Since their meeting with Undyne, Papyrus had been steadily growing closer with her. They had even started a “cooking lesson” together as a replacement for the usual fighting lesson.

“Nothing against your brother,” Undyne had said, “but I really can’t see him being the royal guard. He’s just… too innocent.”

And Sans wholeheartedly agreed. Despite being called as Royal Guards, they also often worked as a hunter, a human hunter. Not only it was dangerous, Sans couldn’t see Papyrus ever hurt anyone or anything intentionally. It wasn’t in his bones. If the time came and a human actually fell, it would be Sans who stopped them.

Imprint walked slightly ahead of him. He was humming to himself and was constantly darting around, unable to be still.

“Where are we going?” Imprint asked.

“you’ll see.”

Imprint huffed and began to run. “Race you!”

“heh.” Sans didn’t bother to follow. He kept his leisure pace and after a minute he shortcut in front of the door. He waited for Imprint indignant squawk… nothing. Sans opened his sockets and found himself alone.

“kid?”

* * *

Imprint knew that his brother would no doubt use his shortcut, so he changed his course half-way and ran into the forest. Most of the time, he was accompanied by one of his brothers whenever he went outside. This was the first time he ever went this far alone. His soul thrummed in excitement and a grin stretched across his face. He wondered what kind of adventure he would face.

A speck of yellow amongst the white caught his curiosity. What was that? He approached it and saw that it was a small flower. It was bending down, its back facing him. He could not feel a soul in it. Hmm but Sans said that flowers didn’t grow in this type of place. He was a few steps away when the flower turned toward him.

“What the hell do you want?” the flower said. “Can’t you see I’m busy?! Oh wait you don’t have eyes.” It laughed, but it was unlike Papyrus’s bright laugh or Sans’s deep laugh. It was sharp and bitter.

“Of course, I don’t have,” Imprint said, “I’m a skeleton duh.”

“Tch! You must be related to that lazy bastard. Who the hell are you anyway?”

“My brothers call me Imprint.”

* * *

Flowey squinted his eyes. The trashbag’s brother was tilting his head, looking at him curiously. He was clearly the youngest of the brothers. His short stature was even more pronounced with his ridiculously long scarf. For anyone else, the brat was a picture of innocence. Ha. There was no way in hell he was gonna let his guard down. Flowey looked around, waiting for that grinning skeleton to appear, to hit him with those damned bones… there were only them. He waited for some more… still none.

“What are you doing?” the brat asked.

“Ignoring you,” Flowey snapped.

“That’s not nice.”

“Do you think I care? Where the hell is that asshole anyway?”

“You mean, Sans? He is near the ruin’s door.”

“Huh, and he let you wander around? And here I thought he was an overprotective bastard.”

“I ran away, well not for long at least. I want to explore a bit.”

“Is that so?” A grin stretched across Flowey’s face.

The brat frowned. “What’s with your expression?”

“Nothing!” Flowey shifted his face into that overly-sweet expression. “Sorry for before pal. You caught me in a bad mood. My name is Flowey. Flowey the Flower. Nice to meet you!” The brat accepted his obvious lies with the naivety of a six years old or well, the naivety of that stupid Papyrus. “Say do you want to play with me for a bit?”

“Sure!” the brat agreed immediately.

What a dumb kid. It would’ve been no trouble to dust him. Sure it wouldn’t be as satisfying as beating that trash bag but dusting his brother would definitely upset him. Flowey couldn’t wait. “Here I go!” He began their battle and both of their soul appeared. He jerked back when he saw the brat’s soul. “What in the world?!”

It was red.

The brat’s soul was red.

It was still in the shape of a monster soul but why the hell was it red?!

“What the hell are you?!” Flowey demanded and threw a pellet at him.

The brat yelped but managed to dodge his attack.

“A monster soul should be white! How can yours be red?!” Flowey wrapped his vine around the brat’s neck. “I only knew one person who had that color!”

“L-let me go!” the brat shrieked. “Sans! Help!!”

“Your useless brother isn’t here brat! Answer my question before I dust you!!”

“t a k e y o u r h a n d s o f f m y b r o t h e r”

Flowey’s body went rigid as he caught the sight of the skeleton behind him. Of fucking course, he was here. The bastard could use those shortcuts. The usual lights in the bastard’s sockets were missing and his usual lazy grin was sharper. Flowey let out a forced dismissive scoff.

“Can’t stop nosing into other people’s business, eh, trash bag?” Flowey said as he released his hold on the brat. Before the brat could land on the snow, the bastard shortcut to him and caught his brother. The brat buried his skull on the bastard’s smelly jacket. “Do you know that your brother is a freak?”

“t a k e t h a t b a c k”

“So why is his damned soul red then?” Flowey demanded. “Only humans have colored soul.”

The bastard frowned but didn’t offer him a response.

Flowey sneered. “Fine. Keep your secrets. Just make sure you keep that thing away from me.” With that Flowey plopped into the ground and escaped. Great just great. He didn’t know what the brat was for sure. But red could only mean determination. Was the brat the reason why his powers sometimes didn’t work. If that were the case he had to dispose of the brat immediately. But now it wouldn’t be easy since the trash bag would be wary. Damn it all.

* * *

Imprint was silent on their way home. Sans tried to give his comfort silently, knowing that any words would only fall flat. It was the first time anyone dared to directly threaten Imprint. He should’ve finished off that damned flower when he had the chance. He felt his brother shifted and looked up at him.

“Sans…” Imprint whispered. “Am I a freak?”

“…of course not bro. you shouldn’t listen to that flower. he never means well.”

“Mmmm….” Imprint didn’t say anything after that.

When Papyrus returned from his cooking lesson with Undyne, Imprint and Sans were huddled together in front of tv. He didn’t comment on the solemn air around his brothers and joined them.

* * *

That night Imprint suffered the worst nightmare he ever had. He felt as if his soul was ripped apart like paper and was scattered away into the corners of the worlds. It was so hurt that he could no longer felt anything else. He hurt so much that he could no longer think. When he returned to himself, his brothers were huddling beside him, both holding his hands. He tried to call their names but only a rasp escaped. Sans and Papyrus skull snapped up.

“LITTLE BROTHER!”

“imprint!”

“ARE YOU ALRIGHT?!”

“what happened?”

“YOU WERE SCREAMING! IT WAS TERRIBLE!”

“did that flower come here?!”

They talked over each other. Their voices loud and grating.

“Shut Up!” Imprint snapped. Both of his brothers were shocked into silence. Imprint’s sockets widened as he realized what he had said. “N-no! I’m sorry! I had a nightmare and then you guys started to scream at him, so I….”

“It’s Alright Little Brother,” Papyrus said with a lowered voice, “We’re The Ones Who Should Apologize.”

“yeah kid. we get it, nightmare sucks.”

“Still…” Imprint said, “I shouldn’t have snapped at you like that….”

“We Are Not Mad At You Little Brother.” Papyrus hugged Imprint.

“yeah bro.” Sans patted Imprint’s skull. “more importantly… do you wanna talk about it?”

“…” Imprint closed his eye sockets and opened them. He didn’t want to think about that nightmare but at the same time he needed to share it with his brothers, as if by telling them, they could convince him that it wasn’t real. That it was all just a dream. “I… don’t remember much… It was all… Pain.” He wanted to check his soul. To see whether or not his soul was still intact. But he remembered what Flowey said.

_“What the hell are you?!” _

His brothers were silent. Imprint didn’t kept his sight locked on his hands. Papyrus tightened his hug, and Sans joined them not long after.

“we’re here for you okay? if you ever have any nightmare don’t hesitate to call us.”

“Yeah! We’re Family And Family Helps Each Other!”

Imprint felt the heaviness eased a little. A small smile bloomed on his face. “Thanks.”

* * *

Sans felt as if he was back being the head of the royal scientists again, stressed and frustrated. Ever since meeting with than damned weed, Imprint had been suffering nightmares constantly. And just yesterday he asked Sans about the holes on his hands.

“You don’t have these,” Imprint said, gazing at his hands. He was sitting on the sofa while Sans was feeding his pet rock.

“no… we don’t.”

Imprint was silent for a moment. “How did… no… are we-are we truly family, Sans?”

Sans felt as if his soul was frozen. “what brought this up?” He was glad that Papyrus went shopping and not here to hear this.

“You never tell me how you got me. If we’re related who are our parents?”

“i…” Sans hesitated. He couldn’t remember. 

“Tell me!” Imprint got up and grasped Sans’s humerus. “Are we related?! Where did you find me?”

Sans could find no words to answer. They stared at each other and after a tense silence, Imprint ran up to his bedroom.

Sans sighed and drank his ketchup. He was sitting on his spot in Grillby’s. The atmosphere was warm and everyone was joking around and relaxing, but Sans couldn’t because his baby brother was suffering and he could do nothing. He couldn’t remember what happened and if he tried to he got this nasty headache that made him think that his skull was gonna crack. He would ask for Alphys’s opinion later.

Grillby tilted his fiery head in askance.

“i’m fine, it’s not me, it’s imprint”

‘Nightmare?’ Grillby signed.

“yeah. it has been getting worse.”

Grillby stared at him. He knew that Sans didn’t tell him the whole truth but Grillby kept his comment. Heh what a great friend.

‘Anything I can do to help?’

“maybe a burg. that usually cheer him up a bit.”

‘Of course.’

* * *

Papyrus might not be the brightest monster in the underground but he knew when his brothers were upset. Imprint had not had any good sleep in recent weeks so he was much more irritable. Sans was stressed about Imprint’s condition. Both didn’t want to talk about it and pretended that everything was fine when it was not. Papyrus would not let this continue. With this in mind, he marched to his sulking brothers and proceeded to push them into the sofa. He crossed his arms and glared.

“ALRIGHT, BOTH OF YOU, SPEAK UP!”

His brothers exchanged confused looks.

Papyrus sighed. “LISTEN, I’M NOT SMART-” they made a sound of protest “-BUT EVEN I NOTICE THAT BOTH OF YOU HAVE AN ISSUE.” They winced. “I THOUGHT I’VE SAID THAT WE ARE FAMILY. FAMILY SUPPORTS EACH OTHER. AND NOT TALKING ABOUT AN ISSUE THAT IS CLEARLY BOTHERING THE TWO OF YOU IS NOT THE WAY TO DO IT.”

“There’s nothing to talk about,” Imprint grouched.

“pap, this issue is… complicated,” Sans said.

“THAT’S JUST ANOTHER REASON TO TALK ABOUT IT.” Papyrus looked at his younger brother who studiously avoided his gaze. “IMPRINT, LITTLE BROTHER. I UNDERSTAND THAT YOU FEEL UNCOMFORTABLE ABOUT THIS BUT NOT TALKING ABOUT IT WILL ONLY MAKE IT WORSE. COMMUNICATION IS KEY FOR A HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP, ESPECIALLY BETWEEN FAMILY MEMBERS.”

“Are we truly family though?” Imprint muttered.

“HUH?”

“Ask Sans.”

Papyrus turned to his older brother. “SANS.”

Sans sighed and slouched even more into the sofa. “i have never shared with you how i found imprint, haven’t i?”

“NO.”

“well, frankly, i don’t remember.”

Imprint’s skull whipped around so fast that Papyrus worried over his brother’s neck. “What do you mean you don’t remember?”

“i don’t. i really don’t. i had you in my arms that day when the core suddenly went unstable and i never knew how i got you. i asked alphys yesterday to find me the video recordings of that date… all of them are broken. when we tried to play them only static appeared. i even tried to look around the core for clues but nothing.”

“So you mean I just appeared out of nowhere?!”

“yes.”

“That’s bollocks!”

“LANGUAGE!” Both of his brothers went back to not looking at each other… again. Papyrus sighed… again. “I SEE. SO IMPRINT IS UPSET BECAUSE YOU FEEL LIKE WE’RE NOT A FAMILY AND SANS IS UPSET BECAUSE HE CAN’T ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS.”

“not exactly because of that but close enough,” sans pipped.

Papyrus glared at the interruption but continued. “WHAT I DON’T SEE IS HOW THAT TRANSLATES INTO US NOT BEING A FAMILY.”

Imprint threw up his arms up in frustration. “What do you mean you don’t see?! For all you know I might be an abandoned child from some monster in the capital!”

Papyrus’s jaw snapped close in surprise while Sans’s grin disappeared.

“Didn’t think of that, did you?” Imprint chuckled humorlessly. He wrapped his arms around his legs and tried to make himself as small as possible. Papyrus wanted to give him his biggest and longest hug but he had to drive his point across first.

“NO. LITTLE BROTHER. YOU ARE OUR FAMILY. YOUR ORIGIN DOESN’T MATTER.”

“Yes, it does!”

“NO!”

“Yes!”

“NO!”

“Y-”

“alright that’s enough.” Sans raised his hand, wanting to touch Imprint’s shoulder but Imprint shied away. Sans let his hand down, looking more tired than he had ever been. “there are several things that i want to say to you, first, as far as i know, the only skeleton monsters in the underground is the three of us. second, if you’re worried about those holes in your hand, you shouldn’t. paps and i don’t look that much alike. third, even if you are indeed not related to us, which is unlikely, you’re still part of our family. we’re not like humans who love to define families based on their lineage. a family is a family. and to be frank with you, me and paps don’t have parents either. as long as i remember we’ve been orphans. it’s just the three of us, kid.”

“…b-but! What about my soul?!”

Papyrus frowned. “IS THERE SOMETHING WRONG WITH YOUR SOUL BROTHER?”

“Yes!” Without hesitation, Imprint pulled out his soul. It was red. Bright and strong. “A monster soul shouldn’t look like this!”

“imprint! haven’t i told you not to listen to that flower?” Sans said.

“WHAT FLOWER?”

“Who cares?! What he said is true!”

“LITTLE BROTHER, WHY WOULD WE CARE ABOUT THE COLOR OF YOUR SOUL? IF IT IS RED THEN IT IS RED. I SEE NO PROBLEMS WITH IT.”

“listen to what your older brother said, kid. we don’t care. you’re family, period.”

Imprint made a frustrated noise and slumped into the sofa. “I give up, I don’t understand you guys.”

“we don’t understand why you make such a fuss over this either, kid.”

Imprint rubbed his hands-a habit that he did whenever he felt nervous-and said, “Some kids in the village said that King Asgore is looking for a red soul and that… that he’s gonna take mine if he knows about my soul.”

“no he won’t!”

“THE KING WILL DO NO SUCH THING!” Papyrus felt anger bubbled in his soul like the hot magma in hot land. “AND WHO ARE THESE KIDS YOU’RE TALKING ABOUT? TELL ME THEIR NAMES! I’M GOING TO HAVE SOME STRONG WORDS WITH THEM! PERHAPS I'LL ALSO TELL UNDYNE AND ASK HER TO HELP ME!”

“No Paps! Just leave them alone! They were just being dumb, I get it now!”

“I WILL NOT LET ANYONE BULLY MY LITTLE BROTHER!”

“what he said. you better tell us, kid.”

“Nope! Nada! No way!” Imprint waved his hands wildly. “Can’t we just drop this? I don’t want to prolong this issue any longer.”

Papyrus and Sans frowned stubbornly. They didn’t like letting anyone who caused such distress on their brother go without any punishment

“…Please,” Imprint said.

Papyrus and Sans exchanged a glance.

“alright but i’ll keep an eye out for those brats.”

“I WILL TOO. AND LITTLE BROTHER.” Papryus grasped Imprint’s shoulder and locked their gaze. “I HOPE YOU UNDERSTAND THAT WHATEVER HAPPENS YOU ARE A PART OUR FAMILY. EVEN IF ONE DAY WE DISCOVERED THAT YOU WERE SOME MONSTERS MISSING KID FROM THE CAPITAL WE WERE STILL GOING TO BE A FAMILY.”

“I get it now, Paps,” Imprint said. “There’s nothing that I can do to get rid of you guys.”

“damn straight,” Sans said, “anyone who dares to separate us are gonna have a bad time.”

“FAMILY FOREVER!” Papyrus pulled his brothers into a tight hug.

That’s right.

They were family and nothing was going to change that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's my DeviantArt account if you want to see other Imprinttale arts: https://www.deviantart.com/lorphis


	3. Interlude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A chat that may happen in the future

Me: Okay, time to work on the second chapter of Imprint tale.

Brain: Psst! Hey, I have a good Idea. Instead of working on that what if you draw a short comic between Ink and that person. Y'know something that probably won't happen and even if it does it will be waaay ahead in the future.

Me: ...Good idea

**Author's Note:**

> You can also read this fic in my DeviantArt account. I also post all of the illustrations there since y'know AO3 is mainly for reading and not art stuff.


End file.
